Choice Profile 4

1. Bayesian inference: Motivation and simple example. 

2. The likelihood. 

3. A detour to explore priors. 

4. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods (MCMC)

5. Bayesian analyses in R with the Jags software.  

6. Compare scientific hypotheses with model selection (WAIC).

7. Heterogeneity and multilevel models (also known as mixed models). 

See the full page

The courses present four aspects of conservation biology based on current scientific research in this discipline:  

1. Introduction to biodiversity conservation(BC): definition of conservation biology. Why conserve biodiversity? Who are the main players in BC and what role does science play in BC? 
2. Species conservation: Which species are priorities? How can species be conserved? How can we tell if a species is "well conserved"? 
3. Conserving spaces: Which spaces are priorities? How can spaces be conserved? 
4. Does conservation work?The importance of social acceptability and political commitment. The need for biodiversity indicators and measuring the impact of conservation. 

Students also carry out group work in which they present a BC project, focusing on the following questions: why, what, where, how, how much does it cost, and how can we know if it is effective? 

See the full page

The objectives of this EU are to explore key concepts related to climate change, illustrate important notions in ecology and evolution in light of climate change in many different ecosystems, and summarize the various scientific and societal issues and challenges posed by CC.

See the full page

Quantitative genetics is a discipline that emerged in the early 20th century to understand the inheritance of continuous traits, i.e., the majority of traits of agronomic interest (yield, etc.) or evolutionary interest (life history traits, morphology). It is therefore an essential tool for understanding, modeling, and predicting natural or artificial selection and the evolution of natural systems or cultivated plants/animals. Its relevance is more topical than ever at the beginning of the 21st century, with the emergence of genomics (a factor of scientific progress, provided that not all evolutionary problems are reduced to the fiction of a few Mendelian alleles with strong effects) and the resurgence of alternative models of heredity (epigenetics) that go beyond the sequence-centered vision inherited from classical molecular biology.

The aim of the module is to provide sufficient knowledge of quantitative genetics to (i) understand the classical foundations of the discipline, manipulate key quantities (genetic variances, heritabilities, genetic correlations) and the statistical techniques used to estimate these parameters (ii) understand the power of this technique for posing and understanding fundamental or applied evolutionary problems (agronomic improvement) (iii) understand how this formalization of heredity relates to the classical Mendelian view.

See the full page

The overall objective is to present human evolutionary biology, proposing to use the tools of evolutionary biology to better understand human behavior and that observed in non-human primates in the context of their evolutionary history. Whether it be health, sociality, culture, local adaptations, language, morality, reproduction, or sexual preferences, the topics are addressed within the theoretical framework of evolutionary biology and ecology. Summary of course content: Anthropology, human sciences, and evolutionary biology / Evolution of cooperation / Cultural evolution / Evolution of diet / Evolution of sociality in primates / Family ecology / Medicine, public health, and evolution / Evolution of language / Evolutionary demography / The origins of equity.

See the full page

Behavioral ecology approaches the study of behavior from an evolutionary perspective in order to examine its mechanisms, function, and contribution to evolutionary and ecological processes. Research conducted in behavioral ecology helps us understand other phenomena observed in other disciplines of biology, as all animals, from single-celled organisms to the most complex vertebrates, exhibit behavior.

The module exposes students to various basic concepts and the multitude of tools that can be used (observations and experiments in natural populations or on captive individuals, comparative analyses, use of modeling tools, ecophysiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, embedded electronics, etc.). Part of the training is based on specific discussions about the research approaches that can be used, the tools employed, and the limits of the inferences that can be made. Students will be asked to participate actively at these different levels, particularly through critical discussions of articles.

The topics covered range from exploring food supply strategies, partner selection, habitat choice, and investment in reproduction, to the study of animal communication and the reasons for living in groups. The historical dimension of the discipline is addressed in the introduction, but also according to the sensitivity of the speakers and the topics covered (meaning and relationships between 'Animal Behavior', 'Ethology', Behavioral Ecology, etc.).

See the full page